I’m curious to see if I have one of the crappiest computers on the planet. Of course, my computer is still technically “functional” and can almost always complete the work I need it to do, but I still think it’s crappy.
My computer is a Macintosh Performa 6300CD. I am currently running Mac OS 8.6 because anything higher “won’t run on that piece of crap” according to my IT guy. I can only run two applications at once, otherwise it freezes. So, if I have AIM and Internet Explorer running, I have to close one of them in order to actually do work. I have a little standard 15 inch monitor, but it’s only got a 12 inch viewable screen. There is a black cloud on one side of the monitor, migrating in from the left. So I had to adjust the screen and move everything to the right an inch in order to see stuff on the left side of the page. The only reason I have a Mac is because one of the programs I use to do my job is apparently obsolete and we only have a Mac version of it. (Microsoft FoxPro, if you care.) I can’t check my work email on my computer, because it is a java-based program, and this computer does not have java enabled. (At least that’s what my IT guy says.) I’ve timed how long it takes to open a webpage. It takes 3 minutes to open the board home page. Google is much faster, at only one minute loading time. I say that I can almost always complete the work, because the computer has a tendancy to freeze when I’m getting to the last screen I need in the FoxPro program.
I’ve got a P3-450 128MB RAM running NT4. It’s had the same windows install for about 4-5 (a P3-450 was top-o-the-line at the time) years now. The registry is getting fub-ar’d and I am getting to the point where I just about can’t install new programs. My outlook routinely just “pauses” for about 10 seconds for no reason. I get visual basic errors every now and then with some programs. IE 5 likes to crash almost daily, and it takes about 2-3 minutes for the Dr. Watson error report thing to run.
I actually like MS products. NT4 used to be rock solid (I guess it still is, the OS has yet to crash after all of this), but god, it needs a re-install something fierce.
I don’t think anyone here will be worse off than you…
I started here with a P4 2.0 Ghz 512 MB RAM, 60GB HD… what the hell I will ever need 60 GB at work for… I have no idea…
not too bad…
by the way… that e-mail issue is B.S. That is a tech guy being lazy because and doesn’t want to look into it… I assume you are using hotmail… or something similar? you can try to download a different browser… changing some preference will probably also work…
but you can use java with 8.6
A few months ago I was handed a laptop as I’m now working at a conference table with another handful of people all thrown at a project. I count six laptops and two desktops around this one oval table, and a whole lot of papers, empty soda cans, and assorted crap all over. I still have a cubicle, amusingly enough, and I go sit in there when I want to be nostalgic.
The laptop is a P4-1.33Ghz, 256MB RAM, 30GB hard drive with Windows 2000.
The desktop at the cubicle is a P3-450Ghz, 256MB RAM, and a 4GB and 2 GB hard drive. Windows NT 4.0. I’ve used it for the past three years I’ve been at my job and have only ghosted the drive once, so there is a lot of assorted cruft built up in there. Most of it’s not work-related, and it’s occasionally an entertaining spelunking expedition to go crawling through and find what little pieces of stuff I’ve left in the corners.
I know there’s a copy of Darklands installed on that desktop, at least …
merge, I know the email thing can be resolved. We use a web-based email system, and the page has a java application. Whenever I go to the webpage, I can log in, but when the mailbox opens, I get nothing. Ridiculous. And yes, it’s because of the IT guy. I would like to give him the benefit of doubt, but I’ve told him about this problem about once every two weeks since August, when they switched me to a different mail server.
I was told I would be getting a new PC with a new randomization program (as opposed to the FoxPro), but alas, that was also in August. I wait with baited breath to see if they change anything out before I leave in May. (And no, they don’t know I’m leaving yet.)
As the guy that actually orders and maintains all the computer equipment I usually make out pretty well. My main machine is a Dell Optiplex GX240, brand new and I’m very happy with their hardware so far.
We have a three year lifetime for equipment. Currently I’m near the end of year one on this laptop, so it’s still quite good, especially since I’m still using the same software and such. Not top-of-the-line anymore, but nice. The one it replaced was quite slow though, after three years.
OTOH, I don’t believe our company has any kind of monitor replacement policy anymore, due to the switch to laptops. Mine is a 5 or 6 year old 17", and if it breaks, I have to scrounge up another one.
I’ve been putting up with this computer forever, and today my IT guy stopped me to tell me to clear a space off on my desk, as my new Dell would be here on Friday or Monday. (Along with a laser/fax combo to replace the janky fax machine and crap dot matrix printer.)
If Bernse’s PC is a Dell we likely have the same PC. Somehow they recently got this clunker to run win2k. I am not going to ask since I don’t want to jinx it. The only thing it has going for it is a CD writer which I put in 2 years ago when it became necessary for me to start backing up a lot of very large files to conserve space.
Nightsong… I feel your pain. My PC is a Dell PII233, but at least it has 196MB of RAM. It only has more than 64 because the person who was using it before me bought some more, out of his own pocket, to put in it, and then when he upgraded his work PC (again, at his own expense) he had no use for the RAM.
Having said that, my home PC is just about as crap. It’s a Dell PII333, but it has 384MB of Ram and a GeForce2 card in it, so I can actually play some stuff still. This was caused by an impending wedding, and is to be resolved as soon as financially possible.
Well, my work PC might not be as slow as some of yours, it does have one thing going for it. 10 different people on a regular basis use it and it is running win ME. If it crashed less than 5 times in an 8-hour period, we consider it a good night. For the record, it is a K6-2 333Mhz clone (I forget the chip makers name, but it isn’t AMD, winfast or something) that had to be down clocked to 300Mhz for it to work at all. 384MB of RAM of which 256 is mine because I had a stick at home that wouldn’t run in my Win2k/XP boxes but worked fine in 98SE/ME. Its got 3 small HD’s in it, at least one is on its last leg. The floppy has something jammed in it. The CD-ROM looks to be from the Reagan White House. I actually used to be able to play UT and Red Alert on it. Now I’m happy if it boots after a crash.
[sub]I have another Air Force supplied computer that is MUCH nicer. 1Ghz P3 with 512MB RAM and plenty of HD space and decent associate hardware, running win2k and is as stable as a rock. Unfortunately we can’t install anything that needs an administrator and worst of all, I can’t come to the Straight Dope on it. It’s banned because of “Humor”. I can go 99% of the web (including FARK.com of all things) but not the SDMB. Bastards.[/sub]
My work PC shares it’s monitor with 3 other machines and freezes all the time. The cdrw drive does not work. The tape drive is not set up. I think it is p3 700, and it has a horrible cheap motherboard.
I will make the lazy computer guy fix it soon. [sub][sup](That would be me.)[/sup][/sub]
A five-year old HP Pavilion with a 233Mhz Pentium running Win95. I’m starting a new job in about 10 days (woo-hoo!), but I don’t know what I’m going to be using.
Well, one of my work computers is a 7100, which makes it older than Skerri’s (and it is also running MacOS 8.6, which IMHO is a great OS). But that’s kind of cheating, because my main work computer is my PowerBook, a “WallStreet” G3 model.
And both of them are kind of cheating because they are accelerated and have considerably more RAM and bigger hard drives than they were born with.
Oh, and they are both mine. I brought the 7100 from home, and the PowerBook is my constant companion.
I guess I’m an anachronism of sorts, but I have never had a job where the computer I used belonged to the company rather than being my own. I’d hate to be answerable to someone else for what I have installed on my computer and how I’ve got it configured!
In my first “real” job (1993-1997) no one but the boss had their own computer until I brought in mine. Next job (1998-2000) I was offered one but it was a PC and it was fine by them if I supplied my own (a Mac 6100 I wasn’t using). I’ve just continued the tradition since then, and have not yet had a boss tell me “No, you have to use the one our IT Dept supplies you with”.
Unless I have no choice short of unemployment, I would not accept a job that imposed that on me, I’m quite spoiled to having my own tools at my fingertips!
PS – Skerri, rebuild your Desktop, reset your parameter RAM, run Norton to optimize and defragment your hard drive, turn off virtual memory if it’s currently on, and see if you don’t get a substantial performance boost. That 6300 should be able to run Java (MRJ) under MacOS 8.6 with no problems (I ran it on my 7100 in the years before it got an accelerator card).
Work desktop – G4 867(single processor) that I got last year after my previous G4 had a spontaneous hard drive failure (yes, I did replace the drive, but it pissed me off and needed to be punished.)
Work laptop – G4 TiBook 800, acquired with the excuse that I’d need it to do reports for last fall’s big project.
It’s good to be queen.
Oh, and AHunter3? I second the OS 8.6 thoughts. I’ve got a Rev. B iMac running it that is without a doubt the most stable Mac I’ve ever had.
My laptop isn’t too bad PIII with 128 megs of ram. My problem is the company firewall when I am on dial up. I have seen transfer rates as low as 238 bytes per second. I called the no help whatsoever desk to complain and the response was (I swear I am not making this up)
